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KYLE WILSON
5-10/190
Boise State Senior

PROS: Has good hips and quickness. Has nice polished footwork and a good backpedal. Shows good balls skills, jumping routes, and breaking up passes. He can play either press or off coverage, and capable of lining up against slot and outside receivers. Does a good job keeping things in front of him and shows a nice feel for zone coverage. Can blitz off the corner. Does a nice job coming up and defending the run, with closing burst to make stop, and wraps up. Shows nice vision as a punt returner, able to make the first guy miss and some shiftiness in the open field.
CONS: Can be tentative at times when defending the run, not breaking down in space. Needs to take better angles to the ball after catch and will give up too much cushion. Lacks ideal speed, and can get challenged by the deep ball. Might struggle defending speed and needs to do a better job attacking the ball in the air. Lacks speed and burst to be a big play threat as a punt returner.
OVERVIEW: He's a sound, solid corner that has all the skills to be a good corner. He just doesn't have the ideal size or speed, and not as physical as you want in run support to be a top prospect.
NFL FORECAST: Wilson should be a solid NFL corner. But he'll have to work harder if he wants to be a top NFL corner. He has no major flaws, just that he'll make some mistakes in run support, and can give up the big play deep. He has good ball skills, but I'm not sure he's going to be a guy that makes a lot of interceptions. He's more likely to be a guy that breaks up a bunch of passes, but only has 3 or so interceptions to his name. At the very least he'll be one of the better No. 2 corners in the league, and I think could compete in that role right away in the league. He has the potential to be a No. 1 corner, but I'm not sure he's fast or big enough to be one of the premier corners that can handle and lock down the best in the league. He'll work best in a scheme that runs a lot of Cover-2 and gives him help against the deep ball. His game is similar to Leon Hall's and that's probably the upper end of his potential. But he should be a guy that is at least as good a corner as Will Allen.
ATL FORECAST: Wilson could be an impact corner for the Falcons. He should get a lot of safety help from the Cover-2 packages that the Falcons run, so his inability to defend the deep ball won't be as big an issue with other teams that leave their corners on islands. He can be a starter right away for the Falcons. And his ability to play in the slot would be valuable since he could land that role immediately as he should be as effective there as a rookie as Brian Williams was last year. At the very least, he's polished enough that he should be able to contribute as a nickel guy, that should be starting by the end of the year. At best, he is a player that can win a starting job at the outset of the season and give the team a guy that is willing to compete with the top receivers. Wilson won't be a star in the mold of a Darrelle Revis, but he's a guy that should start to blossom as an upper-level corner by the end of his second or third season.
VALUE: Wilson is a nice first round option for a team looking for a steady, competitive player. His lack of top-level potential keeps him from being a Top 15 pick, but taking him in the latter part of the first round is a nice fit for him.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

SPEED: 3.0
MAN COVERAGE: 4.0
ZONE COVERAGE: 4.0
TACKLING: 3.5
BALL SKILLS: 4.0

Pros: Good speed and quickness for the position. Has smooth hips and can turn and run with the receiver easily. Has good enough speed to cover receivers on vertical routes, has good leaping ability and good ball skills. He adjusts very well to poorly thrown balls, and he got the majority of his 11 career interceptions from doing just that. He reads the QB’s eyes well when in zone and has a good enough burst to make a play on the ball. Shows some ability to wrap up as a tackler. He is a threat to gain yardage after he gets the ball in his hands on an interception or fumble because of his experience as a return man.

Cons: Doesn’t have great size for the position and doesn’t have elite straight line speed. He gives up throws underneath and doesn’t have the closing burst I expected him to have. He also will attempt a lot of arm tackles or will try to tackle high. He doesn’t take very good angles to the ball either, and seems reluctant to offer support against the run. He is solid or well-rounded in a lot of areas, but not spectacular in any one area.

Overall: Wilson is a solid corner prospect. I personally think he is overrated because of the publicity he is getting as a potential top 20-25 overall selection, but that is my own opinion. He can play man and zone coverage and does a good job of mirroring receivers in man and of reading the QB’s eyes in zone coverage. I expected him to close faster on receivers after they made the catch in front of him, because he shows the ability to close quickly to make an interception, but seems less interested in flying to the ball when he needs to make a tackle. I think Wilson’s ceiling is a quality #2 in the NFL though. He doesn’t have a lot of flaws outside of his issues supporting the run, taking some bad angles and tackling too high, but he doesn’t do anything very well either. He is well-rounded and can improve some of the things he does with coaching, but even if he polishes up his issues versus the run and tackling a bit he will be a good man corner and a good zone corner, but I don’t think he will be great even with additional coaching and development. His fundamentals are sound in coverage and he has good ball skills. I think he is being pushed up because he doesn’t have any problem areas in coverage and because he has had some pretty stellar workouts. But he just doesn’t look like a top 20-25 overall draft pick when I watch him. Like I said, I think he can be a quality #2 and maybe even a decent #1 in the NFL, but I don’t think he will ever be a great corner. His floor is a nickel corner in my opinion because he is too fundamentally sound in coverage to not get reps in passing situations, even as a rookie. He could contribute early, potentially as a corner in the slot, but I don’t think he will ever develop into anything more than a quality corner who can make some plays on the ball and end up with a few interceptions a year. That’s why I was ok with drafting him in the late 2nd or the early 3rd, that would be a good pick for a corner who could potentially play as a rookie in nickel or dime packages and could develop into a quality #2 with some coaching and development. But I just don’t think he’s worth a top 25 draft selection.

Projection: Top 25-30: I don’t think he is worth this high of a selection, but after Joe Haden there is a drop-off in this corner class and Wilson is being pushed up because of it. That combined with some stellar workouts have helped him out a lot, but I don’t think he will ever be a quality #1 corner in the NFL.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

SPEED: 3.5
MAN COVERAGE: 3.5
ZONE COVERAGE: 3.5
TACKLING: 3.0
BALL SKILLS: 4.0